John Abel Norman Jones has been interested in heraldry since a young age and even now in his eighties, he is still reproducing coats of arms for commissions. His talk covers briefly the many aspects of heraldry. As this is such a large and complex subject, this report will just outline the early stages of the subject … Read more
Pat started his talk in the Stone Age after the ice cap had receded. He identified four relevant aspects that were: mining, agriculture, the first permanent settlements and metal working. He surprised many with his illustration of Grimes Graves in Norfolk and the size of the bell pit mining in these prehistoric times. With knowledge … Read more
The great race refers to the 1049 mile annual Iditarod race between Anchorage and Nome in Alaska by dog sled. The race is 1049 miles long because Alaska is the 49th state of America. He started by explaining the immense size of Alaska and its tiny population of 723,000 people. Originally it was purchased from … Read more
Rod outlined six stages of medical misunderstanding. These were: The age of mysticism. The age of reason – misplaced. The dark ages. The Renaissance. Modern knowledge. Science. The earliest references can be found in Samaria when the snake was the symbol of a priest with healing power. Later in Egyptian times only a Pharaoh could … Read more
Sir John Betjeman was born on 28 August 1906 to a upper middle class family in Highgate London. He died in 1984 from Parkinson’s Disease at his cottage in Trebetherwick in Cornwall. His father Ernest had a family firm that manufactured expensive Victorian style household furniture, especially decanter holders. John strongly resisted his family’s demands … Read more
Richard Ashbee stepped in at short notice with an excellent photograph led talk in which he revealed to us again both his passion for nature and photography plus his understanding of wild life. The standard of the photographs was quite outstanding. His talk ranged from every day subjects found in one’s garden to rare birds … Read more